Short of War - This month, Arch Mortgage Insurance released their spring Housing and Mortgage Market Review. The report explained that an increase in mortgage rates and/or home prices would impact monthly payments this way: Short of War A 5% increase in home prices increases payments by roughly 5% A 1% rise in interest rates [...]

Appraisal Value Lags - For the second consecutive month, the gap between homeowner estimates and appraiser opinions has widened. Quicken Loans’ National Home Price Perception Index (HPPI) showed the average appraisal value was 1.47 percent below what owners expected in January. This two-month drop in the HPPI comes on the heels of a six month [...]

Home Office Trend - The rise of the internet and increased telecommunication abilities have led to more and more people working from home. It’s now thought that freelancers working from a home office brings $715 annually to the US economy, and many more of us divide our time between working from home and working from a [...]

Housing Plus Financial Markets is a snapshot in time on what happened this week in the housing and financial markets for the week ending April 16, 2016. Housing Plus Financial Markets Consumer prices rose less than expected in March and underlying inflation [...]

First-time Buyers: Home builder confidence took a slight dip last month. The Wells Fargo/NAHB Sentiment Index posted at 61 for December. That's still not bad; anything over 50 means the outlook is positive but what about the first-time buyers. First-time Buyers: Easing into 2016 Market Preview First-time buyers appear to be holding spirits in [...]

Average US rate on 30-year mortgage edges up to 4.02%. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage edged up to 4.02 percent this week from 4 percent a week earlier. The rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages slipped to 3.21 percent from 3.23 percent. Low Mortgage Rates Are [...]

Scottsdale Arizona Real Estate 85262 Market Profile Scottsdale Arizona zip code 85262 is a sparsely populated, affluent (median household income: $96,067) upscale rural zip code in Scottsdale, Arizona. The population is primarily white, older, and almost entirely married couples. At $746,300 the average home value here is a bit higher than average for the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale metro area, [...]